Tuesday, August 11, 2020

Wild animals and good intentions …

I’ve been working from home since mid-March, thanks to COVID-19 – you know, the global pandemic virus that has everyone wearing masks, washing their hands and using sanitizer like never before.

 

I have loved working from my dining room table. I enjoy taking a break periodically and wandering outside to get a different perspective and some fresh air. 

 

Yesterday, while working, out of the corner of my eye I saw the dog from next door walk past the dining room window. At first, I thought it was a bear but it is a little on the small, fluffy side to be a bear, coupled with the fact that Bermuda has no bears. Fish. Yes. Cats. Yes. Bears. Not so much.

 

I went out to get a closer look and watched as the dog flopped down in the shade of my car. I thought – are you lost? Being the great neighbor that I am, I figured I would pick it up and return it.

 

I’m not much of a pet person – unless you count the goldfish my brothers and I had as teens. Now that think about it, we replaced the fish quite frequently due to their high mortality rate. 

 

Anyway, I digress. Not wanting an incident to befall the dog on my watch (or in my yard), I went to pick up it up. However before my eyes, this seemingly playful dog turned into wild bear, I mean canine, and tried to nip my hand. I think that was a warning bite, or as my husband would say, a shot across my bough. I thought … okay, I don’t need Cujo attacking me in broad daylight, not when I have a Zoom meeting in five minutes. I left the dog to its own devices and went back to work. It eventually wandered back through the hole in the hedge onto its own property.

 

My brush with wildlife was over, or so I thought.

 

My neighbours (on the other side – not where the dog lives) are Romanian and seem to be breeding chickens. Periodically the chickens would strut through my yard. I don’t mind because I have found some great chicken recipes on Pinterest. 

 

This morning when I arrived at my dining room desk, I heard lots of noise outside. I looked out and saw four chicks trying their best to get up a step. They were all struggling. I watched for a few minutes and knew they would figure it out eventually.

 

An hour or so went by – there was still a helluva racket … I went out and watched these poor new born chickens getting a tough lesson in life and perseverance. I couldn’t take the noise anymore so I decided to get a two-inch thick piece of discarded wood and put it on the step so they could get back home. 

 

Boy! Who told me to lend a helping hand. The mother chicken all but attacked me. The closer I got, the more hysterical she got. She was poised to fly at me, if I didn’t Back. The. Fuck. Up. (excuse my language but that was her clear message). I now understand the term – mother hen. She was not playing.

 

I left the chicks to their stepping and went to start my Zoom meeting. (I seem to have a lot of Zoom meetings).

 

Attacked by wild animals two days in a row … I think I should go into the office tomorrow. Surely there are no wild animals at work and if there are, they won’t misunderstand my good intentions.

 

 

 

 

No comments: